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February 11: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

February 11, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1878, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, died at No. 6 West Fifty-seventh street on Saturday night at the age of 46 years. He was well known by his many charities and his wide social and business influence. At the time of his death he was at the head of the banking firm of Theodore Roosevelt & Son.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “With a small crowd on hand, the second day’s hearings on the transit fare issue opened today before the Board of Estimate in City Hall. The Mayor expressed the hope that the hearings would end tonight. He announced he would broadcast his answer tomorrow at 7 p.m. over WNYC. Both Mayor [William] O’Dwyer and Controller Lazarus Joseph yesterday sharply questioned ten-cent fare proponents. They stressed the point, over and over, that a fare increase would bring little additional money into the city’s coffers, and would act, under law, only to reduce property taxes. Last night the Mayor, unveiling his attitude on a referendum, said he saw nothing wrong with it if it is brought about through action of the State Legislature. Last night’s parade of speakers at the hearing, which opened at 7:51 p.m. and closed at 11:19, started with Mrs. Louise Steiger of the New York City League of Women Voters, who warned that the cost in human lives would become ‘compounded’ if the subways are allowed to continue to deteriorate.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, FEB. 10 (AP) — President [Franklin] Roosevelt, in bluntly unadorned language, labeled the present Soviet regime an absolute ‘dictatorship’ today, and declared that it was ‘axiomatic’ that America wanted to extend financial aid to the invaded Finns. The Chief Executive’s denunciatory criticism of Russia, almost unprecedented as a statement by a Chief Executive about the government of a nominally friendly nation, was made in an address to the National Youth Congress. Facing the 4,066 — by police count — young men and women who huddled in a cold rain on the south lawn of the White House, Mr. Roosevelt declared that in the early days of Communism he had hoped Russia would ‘work out its own problems and that their government would eventually become a peace-loving, popular government which would not interfere with the integrity of its neighbors.’ Then, as his shivering guests stood in silence, he added: ‘That hope is today either shattered or put away in storage against a better day. The Soviet Union, as a matter of practical fact, known to you and known to all the world, is a dictatorship as absolute as any other dictatorship in the world. It has allied itself with another dictatorship and it has invaded a neighbor so infinitesimally small that it could do no injury to the Soviet Union, and seeks only to live at peace as a democracy, and a liberal, forward-looking democracy at that.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “A whimsy came into the Morosco Theater last night with the impact of a dramatic tornado. ‘Death of a Salesman,’ Arthur Miller’s new play, wrung the heartstrings, performed beautifully and in the end concluded with compassionate sniffles all over the house. It was the story of an elderly frustration. And it dug deep into the human roots of an adult life. Jo Mielziner’s clever set and lightings heightened the effect of a man reaching for stardust and finding in his aging hands only ashes. He was the ‘Salesman.’ But his ambition had been to plant carrots and raise chickens, and age slowed him up. His home was in Brooklyn, but across the street a new apartment house had shut out the sun his garden would need. This was the beginning of his despair … Sharp on the razor side of emotion was this play. And sharply it didn’t fail its audience. It had its moments of wholesome wet eyes. Lee Cobb moved about the stage in his part, not even having to say to his audience, ‘There, but for the grace of God, go you.’” 

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Jennifer Aniston
Chris Pizzello/AP
Brandy Norwood
Brad Barket/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Gilligan’s Island” star Tina Louise, who was born in 1934; “Real in Rio” singer Sergio Mendes, who was born in 1941; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was born in 1953; “Arachnophobia” screenwriter Wesley Strick, who was born in 1954; “Law & Order” star Carey Lowell, who was born in 1961; “All I Wanna Do” singer Sheryl Crow, who was born in 1962; former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was born in 1964; “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, who was born in 1969; singer-songwriter D’Angelo, who was born in 1974; “Moesha” star Brandy Norwood, who was born in 1979; former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland, who was born in 1981; Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson, who was born in 1994; and “Eastside” singer Khalid, who was born in 1998.

Dansby Swanson
Charlie Riedel/AP

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LET THERE BE LIGHT: Thomas Edison was born on this day in 1847. “The Wizard of Menlo Park,” who holds 1,093 U.S. patents, developed the phonograph, the electric lightbulb and the motion picture camera, along with many other wonders. He died in West Orange, N.J. in 1931 at age 84.

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“THE VOICE” IS SILENCED: Whitney Houston died on this day in 2012. One of the best-selling musical artists of all time, she is the only one to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the U.S. Billboard 100 chart. Her version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” spent 14 weeks at number one and won Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. Her rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV on Jan. 27, 1991 electrified the nation during Operation Desert Storm. Houston also had success as an actress, starring in “The Bodyguard,” “Waiting to Exhale,” “The Preacher’s Wife” and “Sparkle.”

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

 

Quotable:

“Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”

— inventor Thomas Edison, who was born on this day in 1847

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